Nbc | The New York Observer

A Fortunate Play for Fortunoff Heir: Tiki Barber Sells For $3.495 M

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:15:07 -0500

With the real estate market tougher than an NFL front line, Tiki Barber deserves credit for not fumbling the $3.495 million handoff of his East 69th Street apartment. The former New York Giants running back sold his sprawling co-op at 333 East 69th Street for the original October listing price. Mr. Barber, whose name appears on the deed in city records as Atiim Barber (his full name is Atiim Kiambu Hakeem-Ah "Tiki" Barber), and his...

NBC's Experiment in Repurposed News, "Daily Connection," Coming to New York

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:41:37 -0500

NBC's experiment in repurposed local news is about to expand.

Sources tell The Observer that following the Olympics, WNBC-4, NBC's flagship station in New York, will begin airing a Gotham-themed version of its experimental repurposed news show, Daily Connection. The show will air weekdays at noon.

NBC initially soft-launched Daily Connection at WRC-4, the network's station in Washington, D.C., back in September of 2009.

As we reported at the time, Daily Connection is arguably...

Get Your Dicks Straight!

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:10:21 -0500

We’re smack-dab in the middle of those Olympics, and that means we’re up to our eyeballs in guys named Dick. Here, our handy guide to which is which.

Click for slideshow...

Downhill From Here

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:37:46 -0500

Let the games begin!” said Natalie Morales. “O.K., maybe not just yet.”

It was the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 9, three and a half days before the kickoff of the Winter Olympics, and on NBC’s Today the “Countdown to Vancouver” was in full swing. From the slopes of Cypress Mountain, Ms. Morales, in a red parka, gestured at a ski run behind her. Vancouver, she explained, was experiencing what was, by Canadian standards, a freakish...

NBC and Comcast Merge and That's ... O.K.

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:54:25 -0500

Let the record show that Al Franken, freshman senator from Minnesota, bears little resemblance to Al Franken, onetime Saturday Night Live funnyman. At an otherwise genteel subcommittee grilling of the top executives from NBC Universal and Comcast over their proposed media mega-merger last week, Mr. Franken had none of the self-doubt of his famously sheepish SNL character, Stuart Smalley. Instead, he delivered an aggressive “don’t play a playa” message when it came to voluntary...

NBC Honors the Rich Heritage of African-American Employees

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:48:33 -0500

By serving fried chicken.

Roots drummer Questlove helpfully tweeted the menu offered at 30 Rock...

NBC Gives Free Therapy to Haiti Reporters; Anderson Cooper in Brave New Territory; Bob Balaban on Late Night

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:29:18 -0500

In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, as NBC News employees return from the disaster zone, they will get the opportunity to relate their experiences to work-sanctioned therapists.

“There is an impact on reporters from seeing all these things,” Alexandra Wallace, a senior vice president at NBC News, told The Observer.

According to Ms. Wallace, for years NBC News has offered counseling to staffers returning from such places as war...

NBC Gives Free Therapy to Haiti Reporters; Anderson Cooper in Brave New Territory; Bob Balaban on Late Night

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:29:18 -0500

In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, as NBC News employees return from the disaster zone, they will get the opportunity to relate their experiences to work-sanctioned therapists.

“There is an impact on reporters from seeing all these things,” Alexandra Wallace, a senior vice president at NBC News, told The Observer.

According to Ms. Wallace, for years NBC News has offered counseling to staffers returning from such places as...

Leno the Loner

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:39:40 -0500

"What Leno is doing now is slimy,” said Thomas J. Kelly.

It was the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 18, and Mr. Kelly, a 33-year-old comedian, was standing on the outskirts of Rockefeller Plaza, catching his breath. For the past half-hour, Mr. Kelly had been striding back and forth in front of the NBC headquarters in New York, leading a crowd of rabid Conan O’Brien fans in a series of chants protesting the network’s handling...

Leno the Loner

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:39:40 -0500

"What Leno is doing now is slimy,” said Thomas J. Kelly.

A Bright Spot in the Leno Debacle? The Failure of NBC's Cynical Strategy

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:55:30 -0500

Jay Leno jammed his hands in his suit pockets. He looked up at the crowd. No matter how much your network mucks things up, Mr. Leno had learned long ago, you still have to entertain the audience. After all, jokes about Tiger Woods' penis don't tell themselves.

"This week, the video game publisher Electronic Arts announced they are continuing their relationship with Tiger Woods," said Mr. Leno. "The good news for Tiger: They're going...

Conan Tells NBC What Is What

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:49:40 -0500

In a letter addressed to "People of Earth" and published in The New York Times (plus PR Newswire), Conan O'Brien tells NBC that he has had enough of their shenanigans: he won't host the Tonight Show in a 12:05 AM slot following Leno. It would, he says, make him complicit in the "destruction" of a program he loves.

From the letter:

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show...

As Channel 4's Night Newscast Has Slipped Behind (Thanks, Leno!), WCBS-2 Has Soared

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:32:14 -0500

In the month of December, for the first time in modern history, CBS' flagship station in New York, WCBS-2, scored a major victory at 11 p.m.—surging ahead among late night news viewers, and winning the entire month in total households with a 4.9 rating, narrowly topping the formidable WABC-7 newscast (4.8 rating) and trouncing Sue Simmons and Chuck Scarborough at the floundering WNBC-4 (3.0).

A quick canvassing of our sources failed to turn up anyone...

Will Comcast Deal Move Summer Scene From Hamptons to, Gasp, Jersey?

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:41:01 -0500

How might the multibillion-dollar Comcast-NBC deal impact the network’s traditional summer social scene in the Hamptons?

For years, a great diaspora of NBC talent—Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Zucker, Alec Baldwin, Matt Lauer, Ben Silverman and so on—would spread along the stretch of the planet that runs between Southampton and Amagansett between June and September.

But the Comcast guys, according to early scouting reports, harbor dubious taste in vacations spots.

Brian Roberts, the...

Will Comcast Deal Move Summer Scene From Hamptons to, Gasp, Jersey?

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:41:01 -0500

How might the multibillion-dollar Comcast-NBC deal impact the network’s traditional summer social scene in the Hamptons?

But the Comcast guys, according to early scouting reports, harbor dubious taste in vacations spots.

Brian Roberts,...